Record analyzer for accounting machines



April 8, 1958 J. E. STEWART RECORD ANALYZER FOR ACCOUNTING MACHINES 2Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 15, 1954 #man INVENTOR JAMES E. STEWART MMMZu'g ATTORNEY April 8, 1958 .1. E. STEWART 2,829,831

RECORD ANALYZER FOR ACCOUNTING MACHINES Filed DSC. 15, 1954 2Sheets-Sheet 2 VFlcesI vFIC-3.4

INVENTOR. v JAMES E4 STEWART United States Patent Q RECRD ANALYZER FORACCOUNTING MACHINES James E. Stewart, Endwell, N. Y., assigner tolinternntional Business Machines Corporation, New York, N. Y., acorporation of New York Application December 15, 1954, Serial No.475,519

9 Claims. (Cl. 23S-61.11)

This invention relates to record controlled accounting and statisticalmachines in general, and particularly to machines embodying the wellknown IBM system in which perforated record cards control thefunctioning of the machine.

Such machines, when of the electrical type, are usually equipped with arecord analyzer composed of analyzingy or reading brushes which are as ageneral rule so constructed as to be readily removable as a unit withoutdisturbing the connections. This feature is extremely desirable in orderto permit the operator of the machine to remove torn record cardsy whichare sometimes jammed while being fed under the brushes, and also toreadily permit cleaning of the brushes and contact4 roller of the dirtand ne paper shreds which are produced by the constant rubbing betweenthe cards and the brushes.

The brush holders are usually assembled as a unit and mounted upon asupport, and the entire assembly may be removed as a unit from themachine by simply releasing the latch whenever it is desired to remove adamaged card, make repairs to the brushes or for any other reason.

The reading brushes, when the machine is in operating condition, arearranged to make contact with a common roller at an angle best suitedfor eicient operation. In inserting and removing the brushes, theirdirection of movement is toward and away from the surface of the roller.ln order to provide long life to the brushes, the tips thereof arehardened and, when inserted in the machine, the flexible tips tend Vtocontact the roller before the unit is fully in place and, where theroller is of the lsoiter material, the hardened brushes tend to scratchand thereby impair the effectiveness of the roller.

ln accordance with the present invention, it is pro-l posed to so mountthe brushes within their holder that upon insertion of the holder thebrushes are brought to a position immediately adjacent to but nottouching the roiler, and are then rotated through a slight angle tobring them in Contact with the roller in the direction of an are.

A further object of the invention is to provide a structural arrangementfor sensing brushes whereby, when the brush holder is removed from themachine, the contacting ends thereof will be automatically retractedwithin the holder, so that they are protected against damage.

Other objects or the invention will be pointed out in the followingdescription and claims and illustrated in the accompanying drawings,which disclose, by way of example, the principle of the invention andthe best mode, which has been contemplated, of applying that principle.

in the drawings: Y

Fig. l represents a brush holder positioned with respeci to thecooperating contact roller, with the holder in position prior tomovement of the brushes into contacting relationship with the contactroller.

Fig. 2 shows the holder in the same position as Fig. l

Patented Apr. 8, 1958 but with the brushes rocked to bring their endsinto contacting relationship withthe roller.

Fig. 3 is a view looking from the left of Fig. l.

Fig. 4 is aV sectional View taken on lines 4-4 of Fig. 2.

Referring to the drawings, lil represents the bed of the card handlingmechanism of an accounting machine across which record cards are fed insuccession in the well-known manner to pass over a contact roller 11. Acard guide 12 is positioned to present a suitable aperture to guide thecard and is provided at its ends with a pair of upwardly extending sideplates 13 each of which supports a plate 14 pivotally connected at 15a.As shown in Fig. l, between the plates 14 extends block 15 to which issecured a row of contacting brushes 16, of which there are usuallyprovided to sense the 80 columns of the well known IBM record card.

Extending across and secured to the guide plate 12 is a cross plate 17,upon which U-shaped member 13 is arranged for vertical sliding movement,within the limits of the screw and slot connections 19 with springs Ztlnormally urging the member 18 upwardly with respect to plate 17. Themember 18 has secured thereto brackets 21 provided with openings 22 inwhich studs 23 in the brush block plate 14 can slide. The member 1S hasits lateral extremities configured to slide within grooves 24 of theframework` 25 of the machine. To insert the holder in the machine, themember 1S is slipped into grooves 24, and the entire assembly connectedthereto lowered into the position of Figs. l and 3, where it willbenoted that the spring 2t) will hold the parts in the relative positionsshown, that is, the spring will hold member 18 in the upper positionwith respect to plate 17, thereby through bracket 21 holding the brushblock plate V14 and brushes 16 with their contacting ends retractedwithin suitable slots 15b in the guide plates 12. Lips 26 extending fromthe side frame serve as a lower limit in the positioning of the unit.

Thereafter', with guide plate 12 held against further downward movement,member 18 is moved further in a downward direction against the action ofspring Ztl, and in so doing its bracket 21 will be lowered therewith,

and the upper edge of the opening 22 will act as a cam` on stud 23 tovcause the brush holder plate 1d to rock in a clockwise direction aboutpivot 15a to bring brushes 16 into the position shown in Fig. 4. itshould be noted that in moving to such position there is a substantiallylateral movement of the brush ends against the contactk plungers areretracted and the withdrawal of the unit` begun along grooves 24. Duringthe initial phase of this withdrawal, the tension of the brushes 16against the roller 11 will overcome the force of the springs 2i)preventing any relative movement between guide plate 12 and member 18.This absence of relative movementprevents any longitudinal coactionbetween the tips of the brushes 16 and the roller 11, and continuesuntil the tension of the brushes 16 is reduced to less than that ofsprings 20. At this time, the brushes 16 are free of contact with roller11 and springs 20 will cause reversal of the move ments hereinabovedescribed, so that as member 18 is elevated the parts will return tromthe position of Fig. 2 to that of Fig. 1, wherein the brushes areretracted into the slots 15b in card guide plate 14 and protectedagainst damage while out of the machine. Thereafter the entire assemblycan be slipped out of the frame with the components thereof remaining inthe relative position of Fig. 1.

While there have been shown and described and pointed o ut thefundamental novel features of theinvention as applied to a preferredembodiment, it will be understood that various omissions andvsubstitutions and changes in the form and details of the deviceillustrated and in its operation may be made by those skilled in theart, without departing from the spirit of the invention. It is theintention, therefore,`to be limited only as indicated by the scope ofthe following claims.

What is claimed is:

l. In a record card machine, a brush holder frame, insertable in saidmachine, a plate carried on said frame and movable relative thereto, aplurality of slots in said plate, a brush block pivotally carried onsaid plate, a plurality of brushes on said block each aligned with oneof said slots, means on said frame effective upon relative movementbetween said frame and plate to pivot said block on the plate, meansinterconnecting said frame and plate to bias said frame and plate to aposition in which the brushes are retracted in the slots, a contactroller, means for guiding said frame and plate thus positioned forlinear insertion toward said contact roller, and means for limiting theextent of insertion of said plate to render continued insertion of saidframe against the action of said biasing means effective to pivot saidbrush block and cause the brushes thereon to be moved in an arc throughsaid slots into Contact with said contact roller.

2. In a record card machine, a brush holder frame insertable in saidmachine, a plate carried on said frame and movable relative thereto, apluralityof slots in said plate, a brush block pivotally carried on saidplate, a

plurality of brushes on said block each aligned with one of said slots,means on said frame effective upon relative movement between said frameand plate to pivot said block on the plate, means interconnecting saidframe and plate to bias said frame and plate to a position in which thebrushes are retracted in the slots, a contact roller, means for guidingsaid frame and plate thus positioned for linear insertion toward saidcontact roller, means for limiting the extent of insertion of said plateto render continued insertion of said frame against the action of saidbiasing means effective to pivot said brush block and cause the brushesthereon to be moved in an arc through said slots into contact with saidcontact roller, and means for locking said frame after completeinsertion to hold the parts in this position with the brushesvcontacting said contact roller.

3. In a record card machine, a contact roller, a brush holder framemanually insertable in said machine, a plate carried on said frame andhaving a plurality of slots, a brush block pivotally carried on saidplate and carrying a plurality of brushes each aligned with one of saidslots, means for biasing said block to cause said brushes to beretracted in said slots, means for guidingr said frame for linearinsertion toward said contact roller, and means effective upon insertionof said frame in the machine for pivoting said block against the actionof said biasing means to cause said brushes to be moved in an arcthrough said slots into contact with said contact roller.

4. In a record card machine, a contact roller, a brush Aholder framemanually insertable in said machine, a

plate carried on said frame and having a plurality of slots, a brushblock pivotally carried on said plate and carrying a plurality ofbrushes each aligned with one of said slots, meanstor biasing said blockto cause said brushes to be retracted in said slots, and means effectiveupon insertion of said frame in the machine for pivoting said blockagainst the action of said biasing means to cause said brushes to bemoved in an arc through said slots into contact with said contactroller. t

5. In a record card machine, a brush holder fram manually insertable insaid machine, a brush block movably carried on said frame, a pluralityof brushes on said block, a contact roller, means for guiding said framefor linear insertion toward said contact roller, and means for limitingthe extent of linear insertion of said brush block to cause continuedinsertion of the frame to be effective to move the brush block andbrushes carried thereon through an arc to bring said brushes intocontact with said contact roller.

p 6. In a record card machine, a contact roller, a removable brushholder frame lockable in an operating position in said machine, a platecarried on said frame and movable thereon, a plurality of slots in saidplate, a brush block pivotally carried on said plate, a plurality ofbrushes on said block each aligned with one of said slots and with theframe locked in the operating position contacting said vcontact roller,and means interconnecting said frame and said plate effective uponunlocking said frame to move said block on said frame to a position inwhich the brushes are retracted in said slots.

7. In a record card machine, a contact roller, a removable brush holderframe lockable in an operating position in said machine, a plurality ofslots in said frame, a brush block carried on said frame and movablewith respect thereto, a plurality of brushes on said block each alignedwith one of said slots, said brushes with the frame in the operatingcondition extending through said slots and contacting said contactroller, and means interconnecting saidr frame and block effective uponremovingsaid frame from the machine to move said block relative to saidframe to cause said brushes to be retracted in said slots.

8. In a record card machine, a ybrush holder frame manually insertablein said machine, -a brush block pivotally carried on said frame, aplurality of brushes on said block, means for guiding said frame forlinear insertion toward said contact roller, and means operable uponinsertion of the frame beyond a given point to pivot the brush block andmove the brushes through an arc into contact Vwith said contact roller.

9. In a record card machine, a contact roller, a brush holder framemanually insertable in said machine, a plate carried onv said frame andmovable with respect theretoa brush block pivotally carried on saidplate and conected to said frame, a plurality ot` brushes on said block,and means operable upon insertion of said frame in the machine to eectrelative movement be tween said plate and frame and thereby cause saidbrush block to be pivoted and said brushes moved through an arc intocontact with said contact roller.

Stuivenberg Oct. 28, 1952 i

